FG Settles The Project’s Remaining Obligations, According To The Minister

Alhaji Lai Mohammed, Minister of Information and Culture, said on Tuesday in Abuja that all debts owing to service providers under the Digital Switch Over (DSO) programme had been paid in full by the Federal Government.

At the 26th iteration of President Muhammadu Buhari’s Administration Scorecard Series, he made the statement (2015-2023).

The DSO is the procedure for switching from analog to digital broadcasting that has received universal support.

Mohammed, who presented the ministry’s scorecard, reminded that the Buhari government restarted the whole digital transformation project after Nigeria repeatedly failed the DSO deadline.

He said that the DSO’s pilot launch in Jos in April 2016 as a consequence of the re-launch was followed by its rollout in the states of Abuja, Kwara, Kaduna, Enugu, Osun, Lagos, and Kano.

The minister also remembered that the Federal Government decided the transition should be driven by the private sector in order for it to be sustainable after the DSO process hit a snag.

He contends that the DSO must be self-sufficient and that Set Top Boxes and signal carriage will no longer get subsidies.

Therefore, he added, the ministry promised to cooperate with the Federal Executive Council, the Ministry of Finance, Budget, and National Planning, in order to raise money to settle the outstanding bills.

The minister said that the National Broadcasting Commission’s reform efforts were in line with government efforts to provide employment opportunities for Nigerians.